


Electric Sheep

by AJesterNamedFox



Category: RWBY
Genre: Body Image, Dreaming, F/F, Nuts and Dolts - Freeform, Robosexual, Romance, Unvoiced Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-01
Updated: 2015-02-01
Packaged: 2018-03-09 23:28:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3268286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AJesterNamedFox/pseuds/AJesterNamedFox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired by a few other stories I've read about RWBY characters dreaming and then dealing with the content of the dream once they're awake. Follows a perceived one sided crush and the internal debate about the nature of it those feelings. A little melancholy in parts and discusses some body image issues. One-shot with the possibility of more. Teen for some technically safe-for-work 'nudity'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Electric Sheep

**Author's Note:**

> If you don't know Penny isn't “human”, sorry for the spoilers? Seriously, go watch Season 2 then come back and read this. Season 2 will be like two hours of your life and you'll thank me when you're done! Before we kick this off, just want to say: I'm assuming Penny is completely an android with human traits who was constructed in some sort of facility as opposed to some sort of cyborg/ cybernetic-enhanced human who was created in a lab.
> 
> Oh, and I don't own RWBY. Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth do. If there is still no news by the time this goes up, get well Monty, we're all rooting for you.

It took a moment to gather her bearings. Something seemed askew about the whole situation that she couldn't quite identify. The music was just a little too slow, the colours felt as though her eyes weren't quite focused, and her feet felt heavier than normal. She turned to the man beside her, gathering the words on the tip of her tongue to confirm each was in it's proper place before speaking. She observed him a moment to determine the proper time to speak. He was looking around the room, attention divided amongst the crowd and his charge, but she could see the toe of his boot curling as he tapped his foot to the beat of the song. 

“Excuse me?” Penny had never liked the girlish-tilt to her voice but her vocal cords didn't have the capacity to deepen it to a more acceptable level. “I believe my perception of the situation is suffering some sort of unknown effect.”

The soldier took a moment to ponder the possible causes, though she couldn't see the man's eyes because of his mask, she could see the lines of thought punctuating his cheeks around his pursed lips. Just as he was about to answer he was interrupted by a stumbling Ruby bumping into him. “You probably just had a little too much punch. It got spiked and the staff didn't notice right away!” She spoke plainly as if it was common knowledge. 

Penny prepared a rebuttal to remind Ruby of the fact she was not human and therefore would not have consumed any or be able to feel the effects of the punch but, as soon as the words were gathered and placed in order, they were gone. The perfect phrase had been in her grasp but one look at Ruby's smiling eyes left Penny at a loss for how to proceed. Ruby demonstrated she'd planned ahead for the silent robot by grasping her wrist firmly and pulling Penny to the dance floor. Once the girls were situated in the middle of the floor, surrounded by students on all sides, Ruby placed Penny's hands in the appropriate positions: one hand on Ruby's shoulder and the other nestled loosely, fingers intertwined, in Ruby's. “You do know how to dance, don't you?” Ruby's voice was playful but the chiding nature of the question was lost on her dance partner.

“I'm ballroom ready!” The chipper tone again, another mental note to see about having it altered. “It was one of the first things my father taught me, to help me build coordination between all of my body's movements.”

Ruby hummed an affirmative response while placing her free hand on Penny's slender hip. Without waiting for a sign from the other the girls started dancing to the soft music. Yet again Penny found her perception of the world around her to be abnormal. The lights seemed to involuntarily dim, the already calm music slowing further, but through it all Ruby's silver eyes glowed brighter. As the dance continued the girls drew closer together until by the end of the song they were body to body, Ruby's hands having found their way to the small of Penny's back. Penny looped her arms around Ruby's neck but found herself unsure of how to carry on once the two girls were nose to nose. 

Though the music still played in the background, muted as it sounded to Penny with their closeness, Ruby stopped dancing. Penny was afraid she'd done something to offend the younger girl so she sought out a remedy through frantic apologies. A cascade of “sorry”, “are you ok” and “what's wrong” all seemed to fall from her lips at once but still she failed to assess what had changed. Penny did her best to pull away to make sure she hadn't stepped on Ruby's feet but she was held in place by a pair of strong hands clasped at her back.

“Penny?” Ruby lowered her silver eyes away so she was speaking to Penny's shoulder. “I don't want you to think this is the punch talking but...” She looked as if she was fighting with what words to speak next.

Penny was lost in thought while Ruby battled her own mind. “I didn't think punch could talk?” It was a genuine thought, punch is a non-living entity, it has no...

All of the synthetic girl's thoughts stopped in that moment when a soft pair of lips met hers. She couldn't bring her mind to form any new movements. All of her processes suddenly focused on writing to memory everything she felt right then. Through the delicate skin pressed against her mouth Penny could feel Ruby's throbbing pulse, the tremor in the smaller girls fingertips, each shallow breath she pulled in through her nose. Penny did her best to mimic the motions as she awkwardly tried to extrapolate the information flooding her mind into something comprehensible yet still etch everything into her mind. When Ruby finally pulled back her face was flushed pink to the tips of her ears. Silver eyes hidden behind crushed shut eyelids.

Penny tried to speak while her mind did it's best to record the lingering data. “Ruby, I...” Her mind froze in it's place as the feeling of Ruby's lips was broken down into it's parts. Texture. Heat. Pressure. Size. But somehow the combined parts of the whole made it so much more. Made it impossible to accurately translate into points of data in her mind. 

But as she fought to find the right words to put in all into her mind Ruby turned away from her. A hand thrown out to reach for the fleeing girl. “Ruby! No!” Penny tried to take up the chase but her legs wouldn't move. Stifling mint green fabric clung to her body. All she could do was watch a crying Ruby run up the stairs towards the balcony. Penny felt choked by the material. She needed to get out of it. Needed to kick off her heels so she could give chase.

She wanted to feel those lips again. She wanted to make sure those tears would never fall again.

She blinked. One moment she was watching Ruby run. The next, after another blink and the involuntary illumination of her shining green eyes, she was staring up at the stark white paint on the ceiling of her room. Penny sat up, slower than normal she noticed, and took a moment to survey the barren room. Why did everything feel like it was out of place? Her wardrobe sat against the wall where it always had. The full length mirror leaned against the wall between the wardrobe and the window. Curtains kept out all but the most persistent light from the rising sun.

But still the room felt different some how. 

As she rose from the empty mattress she disconnected the cables tethering her to the bed and the floor. Normally she would have closed the panel on her side to facilitate getting dressed, but this morning was different, instead she moved across the room to the mirror. Though she knew there was no one to hear her she spoke aloud, “Why would she run away from me? Did I do the kiss wrong?”

Oddly, as Penny tried to replay the memories in her mind, she found them to be different from what she had just experienced. The entire night played itself out in her mind's eye, but there was never a moment where she and Ruby had danced. There was no kiss. But she could still feel the waning warmth from Ruby's lips pressed to hers. The strength in Ruby's hands at her back. But if these weren't memories what happened? A cursory check confirmed there were no errors and no corrupted data. 

“What's wrong with me?” Her sweet voice was hesitant as she looked over her body. All of the outer layer of the synthetic skin was intact, the seams where panels came together punctuated her otherwise lithe form. Her body had no need of muscle, so it had no definition to show her strength. Penny flexed her arm like she would imagine Yang would do to make her bicep more pronounced. There was nothing save for the line along the underside of her arm. Swinging her hand to her side she manipulated the panel at her side along its hinges. “She accepted me then, what was different this time? Was the kiss significant in her changing opinion?”

Penny closed the panel and began to survey her body. She was a blank slate with nothing to make her unique. Nothing to make her remarkable in the eyes of a real girl. Slowly she traced the boarders of the panels along her body. Symmetrical lines running from her hips up to her breasts, each then turning back to form a stretched diamond on her sides. The lines on her hips swept around to her back then ran down the back of each leg. Similarly the tips of each diamond under her arms projected a line on the bottom of her arm to her wrist. She knew there was an intricate pattern on her back but her neck wouldn't turn far enough for her to make it out passed her messy head of orange hair. The curls were all disorganized which was strange, her hair only did this after a fight but she had simply slept. It was never this messy when she awoke from her nightly rest cycle. 

Idly she took her breasts in her hands. Yang has an ample chest, maybe if Penny was to have something to catch Ruby's eye she wouldn't run. Surely a more feminine body would be appealing. Penny eyed the nearly translucent skin that shrouded her body. It was free of any blemish save for the identical sets of freckles on either cheek under glowing green eyes. “Maybe I can ask Ruby what she values in a romantic partner?” A shudder ran through her shoulders and slowly moved down her back until it wiggled her toes. Where had that come from? Another diagnostic check. No malfunctions. Absently Penny began reconstructing the image of the kiss in her mind. If she didn't have a memory of it she could build one. While she to worked through how it felt to experience the kiss on so many levels at once she started to form the questions she would ask Ruby.

Yes, this would be an excellent day. The guards would be easily avoided and she would get to ask her friend Ruby all about romance. Maybe she could even ask for a kiss if Ruby seemed receptive to the idea. Then she would have a real memory of what it felt like to kiss the red head to cherish. Why did the thought of kissing Ruby always make her involuntarily smile. She had no control over her own functions. But if she went to the lab to use the other equipment to diagnose the problem she would miss her chance to see Ruby. A voice clip of a chance meeting with Ruby a week previous confirmed team RWBY would be leaving for a mission tomorrow. Today would be her only chance to discuss this disconcerting missing memory and see about righting the error floating about her mind.

Grin set on her youthful features, Penny turned to the wardrobe intent on dressing for her self imposed mission. The flawless, boring nature of her body was forgotten as she began gathering the pieces of her outfit with a greater bounce in her step than she felt she'd ever had before.

**Author's Note:**

> The robosexual tag has nothing to do with my love of Futurama or how Bender talking about robosexuals was all I could think about when I wrote the scene from the dream about Ruby kissing Penny. Oh, and if you didn't catch it, the title is a reference to “do robots dream of electric sheep?”
> 
> Throughout I was trying to make sure I made it sound technical enough without diving into a technical manual on the construction of synthetic people. If I add anything to this it will add a little more technical data about Penny, but who knows. So, if you want more, ask! As I have an idea for more, but I'll only actually write it if there is a request for it. It'll be equal parts depressing and cute if I do it. Cause I think Yang is going to 'catch' them doing stuff. Just because I like to cause drama.


End file.
